Meet… #22 | Matteo Bettoni
In the series ‘Meet…’, GROUP A employees answer questions about their work and private life. This time it’s Matteo Bettoni’s turn. Before arriving in Rotterdam from Italy, he worked for internationally renowned agencies in Milan and Shanghai. At GROUP A, Matteo now works on housing projects such as the Clarissentoren in Tilburg and Leegwaterplein in The Hague.
I wanted to be an architect because
I actually didn’t plan to become an architect. I loved science and wanted to study biology. At the very last minute I promised a classmate i would take the admission test for architecture. It went very well and so I became an architect.
The most beautiful material to use in a design is
Learning. Not a physical material thus. I find very important to learn something about a material and its applications in each assignment or study.
The GROUP A project I like to tell friends about is
Gortercomplex in Leiden. It was my first project in the Netherlands, after four years working and living in China, and also my first in Dutch language: indeed a challenge!
With this architect – dead or alive – would I like to have a good conversation
Carlo Mollino. I heard great stories about him during a visit to his house atelier in Turin. He was architect, engineer, pilot, photographer, Latin lover and professional skier.
The journey I’d like to make
…Well! I’m still waiting the Corona updates to arrange my next trip. The plan is to fly to Kazakhstan to take part at the Ironman competition in Astana, and after the race, visit the country. But there’s a big chance it will be postponed to 2021!
I hope architecture touches people by
The feeling of satisfaction. That people are really pleased with the final result. As an architect I work for others, not for my own ego. The designs are the result of a global approach, for the residents and users of the buildings and spaces.
When a project is finished I’ll let it go and move on or
First thing I do is clean up my desk and the folders on the server. We are creatives and we can work in a very chaotic way. I find it useful to get rid of what’s unnecessary and archive what’s important in an easy-to-find way. My colleagues might need it in the future, right?
Besides that, it’s quite interesting after some years to look back at a built project: in the meantime I hope I’ve learned more and I can be critical towards the choices I made
